Lucknow, Sept. 18: The Vrindavan priest who dressed a Krishna idol in jeans and sunglasses may have acted at a temple patron’s request, sources said today as the controversy reached the courts.

The act was apparently a bizarre ritual that the patron (sevait) believed would help cure his ailing six-year-old son.

Jugal Kishore Goswami, the 43-year-old chief priest at the popular Banke Bihari temple, had dressed the idol in denims and put a toy mobile in its hands on Friday. He went into hiding today as the BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad called a bandh and even the ruling Samajwadi Party took to the streets to protest the “insult to Hindu sentiments”.

A trustee of the temple, K.C. Gaur, has moved the Mathura civil court demanding that Goswami be sacked. The petition is expected to be heard tomorrow.

But a source in the temple, where even the priests are divided on the issue, said Goswami had merely “bowed to pressure” from one of the sevaits who had donated heavily for the ongoing Anand Utsav.

“The sevait, a wealthy businessman, had bought a pair of jeans for his sick, six-year-old son and asked that the clothes be put on the idol before he took them to the boy. He said he believed the clothes, hallowed by contact with the god, would cure his son,” the source said.

“For good measure, he also asked for the toy mobile he had bought to be put in the god’s hands.”

As Goswami gave in to the patron’s persuasion, some of the other visitors took snapshots of the idol. These sparked the outcry.

“The clothes were on the deity for at most an hour,” the source claimed.

Till yesterday afternoon, Goswami had bravely stuck to his guns, saying the new attire was perfectly in keeping with Krishna’s image of a playful god with many faces and avatars, always game for a bit of leela (illusion or prank).

“Nitya naya roop, nitya naya leela, Krishna ka yehi hai parichay. Kya guna kiya hamne (A new face and a new trick every day, that’s the hallmark of Krishna. What sin have I committed)?” the chief priest had told reporters in Vrindavan.

After a meeting with the temple management committee, however, he had apologised in the evening. But he reportedly told his associates that he wasn’t personally at fault and was sure that God wouldn’t punish him.

The temple’s priests take turns in assuming charge of the deity, each team enjoying a stint of 45 days. The 45-day Anand Utsav, which began on August 15, has coincided with the stint of Goswami and two of his brothers, Anand and Kunal.

The Goswamis had over the years earned a huge popularity among the devotees because they were friendly and ever ready to oblige them by meeting their demands. This, sources close to them said, had caused envy among rival priests who wanted them out.

Mahant Rangili Saran Maharaj, a senior priest, today said the Goswamis had violated temple traditions to win publicity for themselves.

“Goswami should have used his discretion and not done anything unbecoming of his post as chief purohit (priest),” the mahant said.

Anand, one of the Goswami brothers, alleged: “All I can say is that we are becoming a victim of an elaborate conspiracy.”

Another priest, who claimed to be close to the Goswamis, said: “Since the issue has gone to court, we will not go public with our stand. But we will tell everything before the court.”

Public opinion isn’t entirely against Goswami. A TV channel running an SMS poll has received responses from many devotees who see nothing wrong in his act.